Pipe-clamp-supporting mechanism for railway cars



' Mar. 6, 1923.

1,447,726 w. KELSO PIPE CLAMP SUPPORTING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed- Apr. 22, 1920 Patented Mar. 6, 1923.

WIL LIAM KEL SO, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE MCGONWAY &

TORLEY COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN- SYLVANIA. I

PIPE-CLAMP-SUPPORTING- MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS.

Application filed April 22, 1920. Serial No. 375,793.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM KELso, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pipe- Clamp-Supporting Mechanism for Railway Cars; and I do hereby declare the following tobea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the. art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to pipe clamp supporting mechanism for railway cars and is designed to provide means whereby the ends of the steam, air and signal pipes may be movably mounted on a car and effectively actuated by coupler controlled mechanism to cause, their shifting transversely to one side or the other as may berequired to-prevent them from being struck or damaged by the head of a' laterally swinging car coupler in any position which the coupler may assume either in pulling or buffing on curves or cross-overs. My invention affords a simple, strong, durable and compact mechanism enabling couplers having very large heads to be applied to cars with-v out danger that the angle cocks and hose connections of the pipes will be broken off by the coupler coming in contact with them in curving or buffing or in buffing on curves.

The primary objects of my invention are effected by incorporating in the mechanism a plurality of independently movable pipe clampsor pipe carriers which are slidably mounted upon stationary supports extending transversely of the car, the pipe carriers being adapted to be independently shifted in opposite directions, according to the direction of movement of the laterally swinging coupler, by actuating devices interposed' between the coupler and the carriers and preferably consisting of separately movable bars flexibly connected to the respective carriers and extending through apertures in the center sills of the car in vertical alinement with the carry iron by which the coupler is supported adjacent its outer end..

Minor features of the invention, residing in the form and mode of combination of the elements of the mechanism, will hereinafter appear and be pointedout in the claims.

In the drawings illustrating the form in which I prefer to embody the principle of my invention, the scope whereof is pointed out in the claims,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a pipe clamp supporting mechanism embodying the invention together with the steam, air and signal pipes, a laterally swinging coupler, a coupler carry iron and the center sills of a car with which the mechanism is associated,the car sills being in section and a portion of the coupler head being broken away.

Figure 2 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, of the construction shown in Fig. 1.

t Figure 3 is a detail view in vertical section illustrating a portion of one of the pipe clamps or carriers and its preferred mode of connection to the actuating bar through which it is shifted transversely of the car. y

In the drawings illustrating the invention, 1 is a car coupler which is adapted to be pivotally mounted upon a car so as to swing laterally with respect thereto. lhe particular coupler. illustrated in the drawings is of a well known type having spring boxes 2 for centering the coupler stem and having the coupler head 3 pivotally connected to the coupler stem by means of a pivot pin 4, the coupler head normally being retained in centralized position with respect to the coupler by means of a centering slide 5. The specific form of the laterally movable coupler is immaterial, and it may be of. the type wherein the head and the stem are rigidly connected.

The coupler is supported rearwardly of the head 3 by a carry iron 6 which is mounted between the center sills or draft sills 7 of the car; For this purpose it is preferred to provide the pipe carrier. sup ports 8 with inwardly extending perforated lugs or arms 9 upon which the coupler carry iron 6 rests and to which it is secured by bolts 10. The supporting members 8 which may be secured to the sills 7 by rivets l1 and which project transversely beyond the sills toward the sides of the car, are preferably provided on their upper sides with inclined length of each sup-port 8. Slida-bly mounted upon the upper surfaces of the corresponding supporting members are pipe carriers or,

. pipe clamps 14 and 15, respectively, the fornier being provided for the steam pipe 16 and the latter carrying the air pipe 17 and the signal pipe 18. The several pipes are clamped or otherwise secured to the car in the usual or any preferred manner at a sufiicient distance from their outer ends to allow them to bend or deflect towards the sides of the car when the carriers upon which they are mounted are caused to slide transversely of the supports 8. The carrier for the pipe 16 is, as shown, preferably constructed as a two-part clamp whose members are adapted to be connected by a bolt 19, the base member of said clamp being provided with oppositely inclined faces 20 and 21, respectively corresponding to the sloping faces 12 and 13 of the adjacent supporting member 8 and withwhich they contact when the pipe carrier let is in normal position. As a means for pivotally connecting the clamp l t with the transversely extending bar 22 by which it is actuated, the base member of the clamp is also preferably provided with perforated pivot lugs 23 between which the outer end of the bar '22 is received and to which said bar is attached by means of a rivet or pivot pin 2 Similarly the carrier 15 for the pipes 17 and 18 is preferably fashioned as a two-part clamp whose members are connected around said pipes by a bolt 25. The inner member of the carrier 15 islikewise preferably provided with perforated pivot lugs 26 to receive a pivotpin 27 serving to connect the carrier 15 with the adjacent actuating bar 22. The lower side of the pipe carrier 15 is provided with oppositely inclined faces 28 and 29, respectively corresponding to the similarly sloping inclined faces 12 and 13 of the adjacent carrier support 8. For convenience the carrier 15 is so divided that each of its inclined faces 28 and 29 is formed upon a separate part of the clamp.

The transversely extending bars 22 which are interposed between and engage the car coupler and the respective carriers are preferably attached to the latter by means of a lost motion connection in order that they may push directly against the clamps instead of against the pivot pins by which they are connected to the clamps. As shown in Fig. '3 of the drawings, such a lost motion connection may conveniently be effected by providing each bar 22 with an enlarged or elongated opening 30 for the passage of the pivot pin connecting the bar to the adjacent pipe carrier, the opening 30 being sufficiently elongated to allow the bar to directly engage the carrier. Such a construction also facilitates the assembly of the mechanism since the bars 22 may be shifted as may be required to permit the pivotpins to pass through the eyes thereof and through the pivot lugs of the pipe carriers. The bars 22 extendthrough suitable apertures 31 in the car sills 7 and overlie the coupler carry iron 6, the said bars thus being guided and supported in a simple and eflicient manner.

The operation of the mechanism here-tofore described is as follows: When the coupler 1 swings laterally one or the other of the bars 22, depending upon the direction of movement of the coupler, will 'be'shifted transversely thus causing the carrier to which it is connected to slide outward on its support 8 to a corresponding extent. When the coupler returns to its normal central po-' sition the resiliency "of the-displaced pipe or pipes causes the corresponding carrier to be restored to its normal position, its restoration being facilitated by the downwardly sloping character of the face 12 upon which the carrier slides. When the carrier reaches normal position both of its inclined faces are in engagement with the correspondingly inclined faces of its support '8, in which position it will remain until displaced by a subsequent 'l a-teral movement of the car coupler.

I claim 1. In mechanism of the character indicated, the combination with independently movable pipe carriers arranged on opposite sides of a car coupler which is adapted to swing laterally with respect to thecar upon which it is mounted, of means engaging and adapted to be actuated by the stem of said coupler for independently moving said carriers in opposite directions transversely of the car.

2. In mechanism of the character indicated, the combination with independently movable pipe carriers arranged on opposite sides of a car coupler which is adapted to swing late-rally with respect to the car upon which it is mounted, of means interposed between saidcoupler andsaid. carriers and adapted to be engaged by the :stem of said coupler for independently moving said carriers transversely of the car, and stationary means supporting and tending to maintain said carriers and said first named means normal position.

3. In mechanism of the. character indicated. the combination with independently movable pipe carriers arranged on oppositesides of the center sills of a car, of a car coupler whichis: adapted to swing laterally with respect to the car upon which it is mounted, and means extending through the center sills 'of the car and adapted to engage the coupler for independently moving said carriers in opposite directions transversely of the car.

1-. in mechanism of the character indicated, the combination with independently movable pipe carriers arranged on opposite sides of a. car coupler which is adapted to swing laterally with respect to the car upon which it is mounted, of means connected to and movable with respect to said carriers and adapted to engage the" coupler for shifting said carriers in opposite directions transversely ofthe car.

5. In mechanism of the character indicated, the combination with transversely and independently movable pipe carriers, of stationary supports on which said carriers are slidably mounted, and a plurality of transversely extending bars adapted to be actuated by a laterally swinging coupler, each of said pipe carriers being engaged by and movably connected to one of said bars.

6. In mechanism of the character indicated, the combination with transversely movable pipe carriers having inclined faces, of supports for said carriers having inclined faces corresponding to the inclined faces of said carriers and upon which said carriers are respectively slidable, and means adapted to be engaged and actuated by the stem of a laterally swinging coupler for moving each of said carriers transversely toward the side of the car.

7. In mechanism of the character indicated, the combination with movable pipe carriers, of means inclined to the horizontal for slidably supporting said carriers, a carry-iron mounted on the car and adapted to support a. laterally swinging coupler, and means overlapping said carry-iron and in vertical alinement therewith and adapted to be actuated by said coupler for shifting said carriers.

8. In mechanism of the character indicated, the combination with transversely and independently movable pipe carriers, of sup-- ports on which said carriers are movably mounted, and means adapted to be actuated by a laterally swinging coupler for moving said carriers, said means and carriers having a lost-motion connection.

9. In mechanism of the character indicated, the combination with movable pipe carriers, of stationary supports on which said carriers are respectively mounted, and a plurality of bars adapted to be actuated by a laterally swingingcoupler for moving said carriers, said bars. being individually connected to corresponding pipe carriers by a pin and slot, connection.

10. In mechanism of the character indicated, the combination with the center sills 01 a car, of movable pipe carriers, stationary supports on which said carriers are slidably mounted, a plurality of bars extending through the sills of the car and adapted to be actuated by a laterally swinging coupler, each of said bars being adapted to engage one of said. carriers and having an enlarged eye, and pins respectively passing through the eyes of said bars and movably connecting said bars to the corresponding pipe carriers.

-11. In mechanism of the character indicated, the combination with a laterally movable coupler, of independent pipe carriers disposed on opposite sides thereof and adapted to gravitate towards the coupler, means ancillary to the action of gravity for effecting movement of the carriers towards said coupler, and means interposed between said coupler and carriers adapted to cause independent movement of the carriers responsive to the lateral movements of the coupler.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

WILLIAH KELSO. 

